A number of hours earlier than we filmed this dialog, I bought a name from Aja Monet’s supervisor. Aja was working a bit late; her grandmother had handed away that morning. I instantly supplied to reschedule, however Aja needed to maintain our appointment. When she arrived, a bit frazzled and shaken, I invited her to take a seat and chill out for a minute within the NPR inexperienced room.
My mother had died simply 4 months earlier, and I used to be additionally deep in a vortex of recent grief. And so we talked, quietly and a bit haltingly, about loss, particularly the untethering feeling of dropping the ladies who introduced us into the world and guided us via it — the sturdy ladies who helped us and challenged us to develop our personal power.
I had lately come to a brand new understanding in my very own grieving course of. One thing about {our relationships} with the useless — the reshaping of issues, the time journey that turns into potential, the unbreakable energy of lineage that we are able to solely expertise with those that are now not with us on this earth. I used to be within the technique of discovering a brand new method to be along with my mom, and understanding how a lot I’m her.
Lineage and legacy, household and group are on the coronary heart of Aja’s work. In her 2015 poem What My Grandmother Meant To Say Was, she wrote: “I’m a girl forward of her time. I shimmered within the scars. I reside within the bloodline.” These traces honor the ability of our inheritance, the love and braveness that will get handed all the way down to us, in addition to the harm and ache. Throughout this dialog, Aja and I had been each feeling all of these at their fullest.
So when the cameras began to roll, they discovered us midstream, navigating the currents of reminiscence and the movement of bloodline. We mirrored collectively concerning the necessity of surrounding ourselves in group, made up of each the dwelling and the useless, and of listening to the voices, previous and current, that inform us the tales of our personal lives.
